Yesterday, the Gemara began the closing discussion of Tractate Sanhedrin with a mishnah about the ir hanidachat, a “subverted city” in which the majority of the inhabitants worship idols and, as punishment, the city is destroyed and its inhabitants barred from the World to Come.
Today, on Sanhedrin 112, the Gemara discusses the manner in which such a city is collectively found guilty of idolatrous worship: Local judges examine the witness testimony and evidence for each defendant individually, including whether they were warned not to engage in idol worship, before handing down a verdict.
But now our tractate is about to come full circle, because the idolatrous city was also mentioned in the very first mishnah of this tractate. There, we learned a different procedure for dealing with its inhabitants:
A city may be designated as an idolatrous city only in accordance with the ruling of a court of 71 judges.
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How can we square this statement, that a great sanhedrin is required to declare a whole city idolatrous, with today’s mishnah which suggests local judges scrutinize individuals one-by-one? The Gemara explains:
One increases the number of courts for them and those courts analyze their cases, and when they conclude that a majority of the inhabitants are guilty of idolatry they are not sentenced; instead, we take them to the great sanhedrin and that court issues the verdict of the idolaters and executes them.
Maimonides further harmonizes the two mishnahs, explaining that “The great sanhedrin sends emissaries who investigate and probe until they have established clear proof that the entire city — or the majority of its inhabitants — have turned to the worship of false gods. Afterwards, they send two Torah sages to warn them and to motivate them to repentance. If they repent, it is good. If they continue their wicked ways, the court commands the entire Jewish people to take up arms against them. They lay siege to the city and wage war against it until the city falls.”
Which leads us to one more question: Was there ever a city that was actually convicted of idolatry and collectively punished? On Sanhedrin 71 we were told:
In accordance with whose opinion is that which is taught in a beraita: There has never been an idolatrous city and there will never be one in the future, as it is virtually impossible to fulfill all the requirements that must be met in order to apply this halakhah? And why, then, was the passage relating to an idolatrous city written in the Torah? So that you may expound upon new understandings of the Torah and receive reward for your learning. In accordance with whose opinion is this? It is in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer, as it is taught in a beraita that Rabbi Eliezer says: Any city that has even one mezuzah or any other sacred scroll cannot become an idolatrous city.
This fits a pattern we have seen throughout the tractate: The rabbis’ standards for conviction in capital cases are often so stringent it is difficult to imagine they would ever be met. In the case of the idolatrous city, we don’t have to assume. Rabbi Eliezer positively asserts not only have the standards never been met — they never will.
Which raises another interesting question: If we know a city will never be found guilty of idolatry, why do we need the law at all? According to Rabbi Eliezer, the reason that the Gemara discusses the idolatrous city at all is not to imply that it’s possible for a city to be judged as wholly idolatrous, but rather in order to allow scholars to study the matter since it appears in the Torah. Study of the law — even laws that are wholly impractical — is a good thing all on its own. That’s a bracing thought for those of us making our way through Daf Yomi!
Let’s linger on one last idea: Although the definition of a subverted city is one in which the majority of inhabitants are idol worshippers, Rabbi Eliezer expresses the opinion that even one household that has a mezuzah on its doorpost or another biblical scroll in its possession is enough to save the entire city from destruction. This means a single citizen can take a simple act to save the city. Or, as anthropologist and author Margaret Mead famously said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Read all of Sanhedrin 112 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on April 8, 2025. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
